‘Stand up straight’, ‘Don’t slouch’, ‘You’ll have a hunchback if you’re not careful’ was literally the soundtrack to my childhood. But while my mother nagging me about my posture irritated the hell out of me as a kid – she was, of course right – if you don’t sit or stand properly, you’ll suffer for it later on in life.
There are no amount of eye-wateringly pricey Pilates classes/deep heat patches that can fix the lower back pain I now have from years of hunching over textbooks and computers. And I’m in my late twenties.
Now experts from the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) are asking women to pay attention to their posture to prevent suffering from back pain. Why the focus on women, you (quite rightly) ask? Because poor posture has now taken over from big boobs and weight issues as the most common cause of back problems, and the average age of neck or back pain in women is just 34.
That means your twenties are a key time for your poor posture to really take hold and cause issues.
So the BCA has created an infographic that shows five standing positions types most people adopt – the spoon, the leaning tower, the bridge, the flat pack, and then ‘normal posture’.
They also quizzed 1,200 women and found those who adopt the flat pack and ‘normal’ positions were the least likely to experience back and neck pain. The spoon, with its rounded shoulders, the leaning tower with the head pushed forwards, and the ‘bridge’ with an arched back were the most likely to cause issues.
Tim Hutchful of the BCA added that: ‘The perfect posture should give you a neutral side-on appearance, with your ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles in line – try imagining they have a plumb line hanging straight from their ears to ankles – with everything in the middle sitting on the same line.
‘One way to do this is to try standing in a relaxed way and then gently contracting the abdominal muscles. When sitting, the gravity line should pass through ear, shoulder and hip.’
I am sitting up straight at my desk as I type. But if you’re already suffering from back pain like me, don’t just whack on some Ibuprofen gel – read this super useful piece on ways to treat it.
Like this?
Things You Only Know If You Have Chronic Pain In Your Twenties
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.